THE mother of Zara Qairina Mahathir told the Coroner’s Court that the RM10,000 given to her by former Education Minister Dr Maszlee Malik was a charitable donation and not part of the Justice for Zara (JFZ) campaign.
Noraidah Lamat said the money was given as “Sedekah Amal Jariah” and was unrelated to the nationwide fundraising campaign allegedly conducted under JFZ.
She was testifying during questioning by counsel Datuk Ram Singh, who asked about the campaign and claims made by social media influencer Mona Din concerning donations collected for it.
Noraidah said she was unaware of the JFZ campaign and had never been consulted or informed about its fundraising activities.
She also said she did not personally know Mona, although she had heard her name mentioned on social media, particularly Facebook.
Ram then referred to a Facebook post by Mona, who allegedly claimed that, besides donations collected through the Marhamah non-governmental organisation, JFZ contributions had also been deposited directly into Noraidah’s bank account.
The post reportedly stated that Maszlee had contributed RM10,000 through Mona as an intermediary.
Noraidah said the account had been opened because many people wanted to give her contributions or donations at the time.
Asked whether Mona’s claims were true or false, she said she did not know what Mona meant and could not comment.
When asked why she had not sued Mona, Noraidah said she had no information about the matter and was not familiar with her.
Ram also asked whether Noraidah knew who had funded the “Justice for Zara” billboards displayed in various districts across Sabah.
Noraidah said she had seen the billboards and noticed members of the public taking photographs with them and sharing the pictures on Facebook.
However, she said she had never been informed who paid for the billboards or when they were put up.
She also said she did not know whether the donations referred to by Ram had been made voluntarily, as she had never been informed about the matter.
